So I'm *just* about finished with SIX FEET UNDER: Seasons 1 - 5. It took me the whole summer, but I'm so proud of myself, thank you very much!

I'm in search of new-to-me DVD series to become addicted to. I'm a control freak who likes instant gratification so I vastly prefer marathon viewing at my own pace. What would people recommend from the following:

I already have a few other series to pick up where I left off: THE TUDORS, BROTHERS & SISTERS, HOUSE, NCIS, THE WIRE, DEADWOOD , BOSTON LEGAL, but I'm always on the look out for quality TV series. So much "homework," so little time!

thanks in advance!

-Gail

p.s. This is why I sometimes disappear from the boards for months on end. I stop reading because my TV swallows me whole.

Last edited by Gail K. on Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:23 pm; edited 2 times in total

Monk is funny and holds up surprisingly well after umpteen seasons. I have only seen one season of Supernatural so far, but liked what I saw.

I'd be careful about Torchwood. The first season was excellent. It does have quite a bit of swearing and sex, including hot same sex kissing, and also some gore, so be careful if either of those bother you. It is watchable without having seen Doctor Who, but it's better if you have. Plus, it helped keeping me sane during a difficult time in my life, which is why I am so angry about how bad it became. The second season is a complete let-down IMO, so stay away. The boldness and sexiness are downplayed, characters don't act like themselves, two characters end up in the worst possible relationships imaginable, the jokes are lame and the best actor is sidelined in favour of lame secondstringers. Plus, James Masters is wasted in a lame Spike retread. I stopped watching in disgust after half a season. From what I heard, it only got worse. It seems they are in the process of turning Torchwood into a repository for leftover Doctor Who characters (they actually shoehorned a Doctor Who character into three episodes of season 2), while downplaying the good original characters. I actually stopped watching both Torchwood and Doctor Who, because I hated season 2 of Torchwood so much. And those were my favourite shows, but I can't fathom ever watching either show again.

I can't say anything about the other shows, except that the trailers for Damages turned me so off that I didn't even try to watch it.

I'm not much on series, but I did get hooked on Rescue Me which should be coming around again for another season soon and one which you didn't mention.

My husband and son love Monk and I've heard Dexter is pretty good, but I just couldn't get into it.

Oh, Tee, I gave up on Rescue Me after the 3rd season or so. Just got so dang depressing and twisted. :cry:

I guess I should amend my original request. I want series that END WELL (not happily, just coherently), or at least have the promise of doing so. I hate investing time into a series that just peters out or goes completely bonkers!

Edited to add: I just finished watching the very last episode of SIX FEET UNDER. I could not look away from that final sequence. Now *that's* how you end a series. On its own terms.

Just had to chime in here... if you like historicals at all, John Adams was simply fabulous! Paul Giamatti was wonderful as the title character, and Laura Linney as Abigail was brilliant; strong, intelligent but so very human. The dialogue was smart, and used a lot of Adams' actual speeches, I believe, to wonderful effect.

Well worth watching.

Edited to add... then watch The Nanny Diaries (movie) to see Linney and Giamatti again... I watched them (the TV show and the movie) close together and the effect was startling, to say the least, because for a while every time I saw Giamatti I thought of him as the irascible, intelligent Adams, then to see him switch characters... great actor!_________________Visit my blog for the latest!
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Oh, Tee, I gave up on Rescue Me after the 3rd season or so. Just got so dang depressing and twisted.

I think that was just about the time that I emphatically said that I wouldn't continue watching the series, either. However, I went back to it and they sort of revitalized. It's been off the air now so long since the writers' strike that I can't even remember how the last season ended. I'll give it another try; that I know. Then I'll take it from there.

Gail K. wrote:

I just finished watching the very last episode of SIX FEET UNDER. I could not look away from that final sequence. Now *that's* how you end a series. On its own terms.

Six Feet Under was another series that began with a bang, but petered out for me somewhere around the third season or so. I tried every now and then to get back to it, but couldn't. I'm sure I saw the last episode, but truly cannot remember it.

You know what's depressing about these two series in particular? It's that they had such potential initially. The writing was excellent, the stories were fantastic and the acting was superb. Somewhere along the line, the writing faltered; consequently, so did the stories. They became ridiculous. Every now and then, they tried to pull it together, but then got insane again.

When the series Nip/Tuck was introduced, I thought it was wonderful. A good play between two people, with different perceptions in life, but both plastic surgeons. Often, they changed positions on each other and that made the series deep and interesting. Again, as it rolled along, the stories became stupid and the acting suffered because of it. I gave up on it but always thought it could have remained a strong one.

Good luck in finding one that works for you, Gail. Let me know which ones were successful.

Just had to chime in here... if you like historicals at all, John Adams was simply fabulous! Paul Giamatti was wonderful as the title character, and Laura Linney as Abigail was brilliant; strong, intelligent but so very human. The dialogue was smart, and used a lot of Adams' actual speeches, I believe, to wonderful effect.

Well worth watching.

Edited to add... then watch The Nanny Diaries (movie) to see Linney and Giamatti again... I watched them (the TV show and the movie) close together and the effect was startling, to say the least, because for a while every time I saw Giamatti I thought of him as the irascible, intelligent Adams, then to see him switch characters... great actor!

I will follow your plan, Donna, thanks! I really liked Laura Linney in LOVE ACTUALLY and have been meaning to watch THE NANNY DIARIES. Paul Giamatti...don't know as much about.

Tee, I lent out my RESCUE ME dvd's to a friend...maybe one day I'll ask for them back and try again. I nearly gave up on SIX FEET UNDER as well but this is when my near-OCD personality kicks in. The Fishers were just so screwed up, and I had heard such good things about the final season, that I just wanted to see What Would Happen. The actress Frances Conroy (Ruth Fisher) is a revelation. No wonder she won all those awards. Actually, the fine acting of the actors playing many of the main & peripheral characters sustained the entire series, no matter how melodramatic the plotlines sometimes became.

Of course, I'll all for List Expansion. Ordinarily *not* a football fan...would I still enjoy FNL?

Absolutely. While not everyone is going to love Friday Night Lights, I can definitely say that it's about much more than just football. I haven't seen many shows with relationships that seem as real as those on FNL. The acting is amazing and shame on the Emmy voters for not recognizing it. Also, I think you can get the episodes on the official website if you are in the US. And the bothseasons are on DVD - and relatively inexpensive.

The camera work for the first few episodes is pretty awful (the shaky camera school of cinematography) but it got better as the show went on. Really, I can't recommend it enough.

Monk is funny and holds up surprisingly well after umpteen seasons. I have only seen one season of Supernatural so far, but liked what I saw.

I'd be careful about Torchwood. The first season was excellent. It does have quite a bit of swearing and sex, including hot same sex kissing, and also some gore, so be careful if either of those bother you. It is watchable without having seen Doctor Who, but it's better if you have. Plus, it helped keeping me sane during a difficult time in my life, which is why I am so angry about how bad it became. The second season is a complete let-down IMO, so stay away. The boldness and sexiness are downplayed, characters don't act like themselves, two characters end up in the worst possible relationships imaginable, the jokes are lame and the best actor is sidelined in favour of lame secondstringers. Plus, James Masters is wasted in a lame Spike retread. I stopped watching in disgust after half a season. From what I heard, it only got worse. It seems they are in the process of turning Torchwood into a repository for leftover Doctor Who characters (they actually shoehorned a Doctor Who character into three episodes of season 2), while downplaying the good original characters. I actually stopped watching both Torchwood and Doctor Who, because I hated season 2 of Torchwood so much. And those were my favourite shows, but I can't fathom ever watching either show again.

I can't say anything about the other shows, except that the trailers for Damages turned me so off that I didn't even try to watch it.

Thanks for your input, Cora. I've only caught a couple epis of DR. WHO on Sci-fi Channel. Given my sci-fi proclivities, I feel like I should like it, but I find it kinda cheesy. I read an intriguing article about the first season of TORCHWOOD, once, though, so maybe I will check out just the premiere season!